Stoicism in Georgia

One of the more unexpected literary expressions of Stoicism was in Tom Wolfe’s novel of a few years ago, A Man in Full.

To me, novels are a trip of discovery, and you discover things that you don’t know and you assume that many of your readers don’t know, and you try to bring them to life on the page. But when I introduced the subject of stoicism in this book, suddenly, it became a tale of morality. I had this young man, Conrad Hensley, who was out of work and through mishaps was in Oakland. His car is towed, and he eventually gets into a fight with somebody at the pound, the private car pound where these cars are taken, and he ends up in jail. He really has no one to turn to. His wife has given up on him; his parents are worthless, ex-hippies. He has nothing; he has nobody. And, by mistake, he’s sent this book about the stoics, and he reads these lines from Epictetus and learns that Epictetus, himself, had been sold as a slave when he was 10 years old to a Roman – he was Greek, himself – he was sold to a Roman military officer…

Wolfe went on to explain that Epictetus was evidently more fond of his beard than of life itself. Not exactly the best recommendation for a philosophy I’ve ever come across. But still, Epictetus in Atlanta was a surprise.

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …”

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.”

But after all that, I still say: Hail Cicero! And I still agree with William James that freedom to think what you want to think, when you want to think it – an inner life, in other words – is one of our very most precious possessions.

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This entry was posted on September 13, 2012 at 5:15 am and is filed under CoPhilosophy, Intro to Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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2 Responses to “Stoicism in Georgia”

I really enjoy stoicism but I feel there should be a balance. If we never put emotions into anything, life would be very boring. We would all be walking around like we were full of xanax, or valium. I agree that emotions have no place in logical thinking but there is a time and place for them.